Reinventing Human Rights

Mark Goodale is Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Lausanne. He is the author of A Revolution in Fragments (2019), Anthropology and Law (2017), and Surrendering to Utopia (Stanford, 2009), among other works.

• One: Human Rights against the MaelstromsTwo: Human Rights, Capitalism, and the Ends of Economic LifeThree: Remaking Sovereignty in the Image of Human RightsFour: Human Rights beyond the Rule of LawFive: Decolonizing Human RightsSix: Human Rights OtherwiseSeven: The Subjects of Human RightsEight: Human Rights in a G20 World

"Reinventing Human Rights is a major original statement that transcends old debates and opens tremendous new possibilities. Mark Goodale's ambitious, intrepid move is to neither embrace nor vilify human rights but to demand a new vision of them, for a translocal and transformative politics in a diverse and unequal world."—Samuel Moyn, Yale University, author of Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World "Reinventing Human Rights captures the emergent conditions we must address—whether we want to or not. Mark Goodale opens us up to settings often overlooked, but that increasingly signal their presence."—Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, author of Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy "Goodale... articulates a new vision for conceptualizing human rights, aiming to inspire fresh thinking and approaches to contemporary problems. His approach challenges claims of universality, which have long been a theoretical and practical stumbling block for human rights scholars and practitioners, and emphasizes what he calls translocality to create broader, though still nuanced, alliances among people across tribes, cultures, and nations. ... Recommended."—A. G. Reiter, CHOICE "Reinventing Human Rights... presents an eloquently argued 'only way forward'... in redefining the framework for seeking justice globally. The tenor is normative, earnestly looking for betterment in the world, even as it draws on critical scholarship, showcasing several titles from the Stanford Studies in Human Rights edited by the author."—Harri Englund, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute "Goodale's book offers a penetrating critique of human rights in their conception and application through international bodies since 1947."—Denys P. Leighton, Jindal Global Law Review